Four: An Alpha's Dilemma

Graeme’s POV

The cool night air whipped past me as I sprinted deep into the forest, the sound of the world fading behind me. My paws pounded against the earth in a steady rhythm, adrenaline surging through my veins, pushing me to run faster. I needed to run. Needed to escape before I found myself doing something I couldn’t afford to do. 

I left my men—and her—far behind. Despite how badly I wanted to turn back, I didn’t. Panic clawed at my insides, but I forced it down, focusing instead on the forest that enveloped me. The trees blurred by in a rush of shadows and moonlight, but the image of Delia's face wouldn’t leave my mind.

She had looked so fragile and bewildered, standing between there staring at me with wide, desire filled eyes. There had been something about her when I met her, something that drew me to her, but never in my wildest dreams had I imagined it could be this. Never had I thought that it was a mate bond that called to me. 

There was no way that girl could be my mate. I shook my canine head, snorting at the absurdity of the thought and yet it wouldn’t leave me. It couldn’t be real, it just couldn’t. She was a mutt. One who had just undergone her first tranformation. It was impossible for the bond between us to be real. 

Her. My mate? No.

I snarled to myself as I pushed through the underbrush. Yet even as I denied it, the reality of what I had felt was too overwhelming to be so easily forgotten. 

Even if she was my fated mate, it couldn’t happen. She was too young, too inexperienced, and far too human. She didn’t know anything about being a wolf. Hell, from what her parents had told me, she hadn’t even known my kind existed until now. How then could she be my mate? How could fate be so cruel?

A mutt. The term tasted bitter on my tongue. It was a word we used to describe those who were not born shifters. She had a decent wolf from the little I’d seen, large and appropriately dominant. Yet, she wasn’t a trueborn wolf. She was a mutt. A turned product of a rabid bite. In the old days, she would have simply been put down and I would have to be the one to oversee it. Now, she was my mate? It was impossible. 

Wolves like her didn’t belong in my world, not really. Things had changed in the last hundred years, but they were still not fully accepted in the wolf kingdom, considered too human to be one of us. Delia didn’t know it yet, but she would always be an outsider. She would always be othered, no matter how much I tried to foster acceptance. To then turn around and make her my mate, my luna? 

The consequences would be dire. The other Alphas would revolt. The wolf alliance, the delicate balance my father had fought so hard to establish, would crumple overnight. A mutt was a stain, an insult. They would never tolerate their Alpha King being with such a wolf. My father, George Buchanan, had laid the foundation for a new era of coexistence between humans and wolves. He had united our kind and forged a truce and for the first time in history, individual wolf packs were joined together until one Alpha King. I couldn’t see this delicate balance remaining if I tried to install a mutt as Luna, no matter that she was my mate. 

As much as I couldn’t let this happen, I couldn’t reject the bond either. It would cause a reduction in my already insufficient powers. With the current political unrest amongst the packs and the humans themselves, I couldn’t afford to reject any extra power. Which left me with very little choice as to what I could do. 

No one could know, I decided. Not until I had a better handle on this at least. 

My trusted detail wouldn’t breathe a word unless I told them to. They were loyal and disciplined and understood the weight of silence. They were taking her to Wilburn pack a few miles away from my own. She would stay there for the meantime, until I figured out how to do damage control for this entire situation. 

There was still the question of who had turned her in the first place but I couldn’t think about that now. I couldn’t think about anything, lest I lost control again and fulfilled the desperate urge I had to fully mate with her. 

I pushed all thoughts of Delia out of my head and made my way through the trees. The scent of blood filled the air, sharp and metallic and I had a moment to wonder where it had come from, before realizing it was mine. I had been wounded during my fight with that damn vampire. I could feel my body healing already, the dull ache a constant reminder of the battle I had just fought. It was a fight harder than others, but yet again, I had survived. 

Slowing my pace, I sniffed the air, searching for something—anything—to take my mind off the chaos I was caught in. The familiar scent of deer hung thick in the night, and my wolf instincts kicked in.

I prowled through the underbrush, moving silently, my heart racing as the thrill of the hunt washed over me. The deer was blissfully unaware of my presence, its ears flicking at the slightest sound, but it wouldn’t sense me until it was too late. I crept closer, muscles coiling, and then sprang forward with a sudden burst of speed. My claws dug into soft flesh, and within moments, the deer lay still.

The kill should have satisfied me, but it didn’t. Not today, not now. I ate enough to replenish my strength, the taste of blood filling my mouth, but even as I feasted, the gnawing feeling in my gut remained. I was acutely aware that some part of me was missing and I didn’t know what to do about it. 

After I finished, I padded toward a nearby stream, allowing the cool water to wash over my fur. I dipped my head, drinking deeply, the coolness soothing my burning throat. I stepped into the stream, cleansing myself of the night’s violence and my turbulent thoughts.

The transformation back to human form came naturally, my bones cracking and shifting as I felt the familiar sensation of skin stretching over muscle. I emerged from the water, wading to the bank, and sank down, staring up at the stars.

The vast sky offered no answers, only silence and somehow, I found myself thinking about her again.

Not about the mate bond—at least, that’s what I told myself—but about the attack that had pulled her into my world so violently. I needed to find whoever had attacked her and I needed to learn about that Vampire that had been hanging around her. I told myself my interest was purely professional, but I knew it was a lie. Still, I did my best to validate it, pondering on the wolf-human alliance and whether it was deliberate to break it. 

Before the alliance, wolves and humans had been at war, tearing each other apart in a brutal cycle of bloodshed and distrust. My father had brokered an uneasy truce that hinged on two rules: humans stayed out of wolf territory, and wolves respected human lands.

It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it worked—for the most part.

So why had there been a werewolf attack in Sterling City? Was it a pack wolf? A rogue? I had no idea. I  hadn’t even been aware until the human Mayor of Sterling city had called angrily demanding answers. I’d assured him that no wolf from my pack would dare, but I couldn’t speak of the others. I had many detractors in the other packs, amongst Alphas who hated the treaty we’d drawn with the humans and thought my family weak for agreeing to it. 

As much as they hated me and my father’s laws, I didn’t see them stooping to such an elaborate high risk plan. 

It was most likely a rogue and the thought at my jaw clenching. Rogues were the bane of our existence, wolves without packs or purpose, driven mad by their isolation. We usually managed to keep them away from the border, containing them in wolflands instead. If one had truly crossed into their territory, we had breached the treaty and the humans would be well within their rights to threaten us with war, something I really wanted to avoid. The entire dilemma exhausted me and I found myself rubbing my forehead in confusion and utter frustration. 

“Alpha?”

The voice startled me out of my thoughts, but I didn’t flinch. His scent flitted to me immediately, telling me he was trusted pack. Duke, my Beta approached me at the bank, a cloak in hand. It was dark, but I could see the worry etched into his features. 

“You’re injured,” he said, scanning me with those keen eyes. They flicked over my body, lingering on the faint marks still healing across my torso, a testament to the fight I had just survived.

“I’m fine,” I replied curtly, but the words felt hollow even to me.

Duke hesitated, his eyes narrowing as he studied my face. “The girl… is she what I think she is?”

I turned my gaze back to the stars, forcing myself to breathe. The silence stretched between us, heavy with unspoken thoughts. Finally, I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest. “Yes.”

“Then why did you reject her?” Duke’s voice was calm, but I could sense the confusion simmering just beneath the surface. He had been my Beta for years, my closest confidant, but even he couldn’t begin to understand the storm raging inside me.

“It’s complicated,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to dispel the headache forming there. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Duke studied me for a moment longer before bowing his head in acknowledgment, a gesture I appreciated more than I could express. I could feel the weight of his concern, the loyalty that bound us, and it gave me some comfort in the chaos of my mind.

The conversation shifted to safer ground, though the unease still hung between us.

“The vampire,” Duke said, his voice steady. “Who do you think he was?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, frustration bubbling to the surface. “But I want answers. Reach out to the head of the nearest vampire clan. Demand an explanation for the attack.”

Duke nodded, his expression serious. “And the girl? What do we tell the other Alphas when they start to ask questions?”

“They won’t,” I said firmly. “Not if we handle this quietly.”

“Do you think it’s a rogue?” Duke asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

I stared at him, my expression grim. “For all our sakes, I sincerely hope not.”

Otherwise, there would be hell to pay.